Crisis Memes - 12 - Plus the story so far...

Previously, in Crisis Memes....

An explosion and power surge during a Translocation manoeuvre has transported the star-liner Delta Destiny to a remote part of the Galaxy, far from any hope of rescue. The star drive is damaged and they have minimal life support systems.

Originally bound for the low-tech medieval style planet of Tintagel, there are two hundred thousand passengers and crew on board, including new settlers, History Planet admin staff and tourists, and compliment of Royal Space Marines. The lower decks house a troop of Planetary Terraformers – all Taurs – who are genetically modified human/Neanderthal workers renowned for their strength and hardiness. Different factions are vying for power as the realisation of their desperate situation begins to spread.

The McLaren family are three brothers - Ben, Alistair and Bruce - together with Ben’s wife Megan, and his two teenage children Harry and Amber. Ben was planning to be a settler, Alistair a History Planet admin officer, and Bruce (an Ex-Royal Marine and war-hero) was to join the King Arthur Pageant as one of the Round Table Knights.

The three brothers and Megan were captured by the Taurs and feared they would be killed and eaten by their captors. However they were rescued first by Morrigan (a half-Taur who is part of the ships maintenance team) and then taken to a safe part of the ship by Lieutenant Chiton and a squad of Marines.

Amber and Harry had escaped capture by hiding in the air-ducts where they had discovered Selena (one of the ships androids) with a mysterious newborn baby. Selena persuaded them that the baby needed protection and handed it over to them.

The McLaren’s are reunited. Bruce is reenlisted into the Marines and promoted to lieutenant by the senior officer Major Allason. Both are convinced that the Taurs will try to take over the ship using their powerful Planet Harvester machines.

Ben has volunteered to assist with emergency food distribution. Amber has helped the ships navigation team to locate a nearby planet that may be able to provide sustenance. Meanwhile, Harry is intrigued by the increasingly strange behaviour of Selena the Android.

12 - Fri 08 Aug 2256 12:00

Deck 09, Ring C was a Retail Loop - a thoroughfare of shops and cafes that formed a complete circle around the ship. A few weeks ago it would have been thronged with passengers buying anything from food and drink for consumption on the trip, to agricultural supplies for use on Tintagel Three. Now it was a sombre place, where dim emergency lights barely illuminated the lines of subdued passengers queuing for free food rations.

Ben stood in front of a small café, ladling out soup and recording the numbers from the passengers ID cards as they passed. He spotted Bruce coming down the hill – the circular structure of the ship always made you feel like you were at the bottom of a valley – and with mixed feelings noticed his brothers swaggering gait had made a comeback.

Ben waved and gave a hand sign signifying ‘five minutes’. He got the thumbs up in return and saw Bruce find a seat at a table in the plaza. After a few moments he was relieved by a new volunteer at the counter and joined his brother.

“Did you hear?” Ben began. “We’ve been allocated new quarters on Deck 1? It’s only the Royal Suite!”

“Yes, I know,” Bruce said. “You can thank me for that – I heard those rooms had become available. The previous occupant decided to move out to be with some friends of his. Just don’t go crowing about it, and enjoy it while it lasts.”

“Well, it’s nice to have useful family connections - too bad that you’re back in barracks eh? So how does it feel? What have you been assigned to?”

“I’ve been down on the lower decks keeping an eye on the Terraformers. You think it’s a mess up here? It’s a sea of stinking turds down there, and thousands of crazy Taurs all wallowing about in it. They’ve kidnapped people and are working them like slaves – you can bet some are getting eaten too. Bloody cannibals! We were damn lucky to escape you know Ben.”

“We were - though I’m not convinced they would have really eaten us. I’ve been helping with an inventory of the rations on board. You know that the Terraformers were going to the moon of Tintagel Nine? Well, they have rations for four thousand workers for the first three years of that operation, and it’s all stored on the level 22. They can’t possibly be desperate enough to be eating people yet.”

“They don’t need to be desperate – they’re no better than animals,” replied Bruce.

Ben noticed that Bruce had begun to drum his fingers on the table, and knew from years of experience that his brother was holding something back.

“Maybe we should be talking to them – pooling our resources.”

“Would you share, if you were them? No. Trust me, I’ve been trained to spot the bad guys and that lot are as bad as they come. They’ve got some pretty heavy-duty kit down there and they’re not afraid to use it against us.

“You mean their Planet Harvesters? They can't be much use for fighting – even I know that.”

“With respect,” Bruce said, showing little, “You just don’t think like a soldier bro’. Those things are built of solid plaz-steel and I’ve seen them push a six-lane highway through a granite mountain in less than a month. They’re bullet-proof, bombproof, and the Taurs will use them for cover and for over-running our defences. We have nothing strong enough to hold them back. When that happens you’ll be the first to make a run for it. No, correction – you’ll be second. Behind Alistair.”

“Someone has to survive to bury the dead hero’s.” Ben regretted saying it even as it came out. He paused and tried to hold back his annoyance. “Well, it just doesn’t sound right to me. I still say you should be talking, not shooting.”

“It’s past the time for talk. We’re going down to Deck 22 with a full combat group in a couple of hours and that will be it – game over for the Taurs.”

“You’re just loving all this aren’t you, Bruce? You know you’re already a legend around here - the hero of Beta Geminorum b! I thought you wanted to get away from all that?”

“Yeah, well everything’s changed - we’re in a conflict situation, and that’s what I’m trained to deal with. And you’re getting as bad as Alistair – someone has to rise to the challenge here you know.”

“Maybe you should try working out how we can get feed two hundred thousand people three times a day without so much as an electric can-opener.”

“That’s easy stuff for you, and I couldn’t do that any more than you could do what I do, so let’s both stick to what we’re good at, eh?” Bruce took a breath and sat back in his chair. “Anyway, we shouldn’t be arguing about this - a few less Taurs to feed and their stores in our kitchens will make everyone happy.”

Ben pulled his disapproving face – the one that Bruce always ignored - and the stare he received back had all the stubbornness of a five year old. But he knew that if he waited long enough he would learn what was really going on. After a moment Bruce leaned forward and spoke in a quieter voice.

“Look Ben, I’ve learned a few things that you should know, though for pity’s sake you have to swear to keep them to yourself.”

“OK, I’m listening”

“The Destiny’s Star-Drive is completely buggered. It needs a total rebuild and they just don’t have the parts and precious little of the know-how on-board. That also means that there’s no hyperspace distress beacon going out. No one has quite figured out how we got here, but we’re way beyond any inhabited part of the Galaxy and the chances of a search mission even knowing where to look for us are pretty slim.”

“But we have supplies for eighteen months if we ration carefully. Surely…”

“Surely nothing! We’re on our own out here, Ben – at least twenty years from home, even with a working star-drive. The crew are looking for planets in the vicinity that have water and maybe vegetation that we can eat, or at least process into something edible. They have a possible candidate, but even that’s years away with only auxiliary power to get us there.”

“How many years away?”

Bruce shrugged. “Too many. At least, too many for all two hundred thousand people to survive the trip.”

They sat in gloomy silence for several minutes. Ben tried to digest the information, but his mind was skipping over it.

“Well, we can only take things one step at a time,” he said eventually. “Let’s hope this planet is what we need.”

“Yeah, let’s hope.” Bruce rose from his seat and stood uncomfortably for a moment. “Well, I have to go - duty calls, and all that crap.”

Ben offered his hand. “Aye. Good luck bro’. Come and see the new quarters when you’ve time. And don’t do anything crazy eh?”

“And leave you with only one stupid brother instead of two? No danger! There are hard times ahead, and we’ll need to stick together. Don’t worry yourself.”

As the brothers shook hands the daylight globes above them flickered into life and brightened to twilight intensity.

“The Solar panels must be picking something up,” Ben said.

The people in the soup queue gave a thin cheer.